Culture and Critical Literacy
What is Culture? Culture is our ways of being, it includes an individual's gender, community, ethnicity, class, religion, age and sexuality. Culture defines a person, and a positive link to culture can lead to a positive sense of self and identity. At the Little Flyers Centre, our goal is to ensure that every child's culture is valued and incorporated into the service. We strive to accomplish this by encouraging children to consider the ideals that are presented in the media, and how they can disadvantage groups of people. Why is Culture an important issue in Critical Literacy? Studies have found that individuals who experience racism and marginalisation in institutions (schools, government) suffer from lower educational outcomes and earlier school dropout levels. This leads to high unemployment rates and lower employment opportunities in adulthood. Racism has been identified as a global phenomenon, bolstered by views that are dominant within popular media. It is important that children are taught to question the ideals they are exposed to, in order to provide them with the knowledge to question cultural biases and prejudices. This will help to lessen the effects of exclusion and discrimination, as well as the problem of discrimination itself within society as a whole. The acceptance and celebration of an individual’s culture leads to a confident and strong sense of identity, high self-esteem and feeling that they belong, which we strive to achieve at our centre. What can I do? Parents are the most influential people in a child's sense of identity and connection to their culture. To promote the critical analysis of culture in popular media, you can ask children: *Who is/isn't represented in this text? *Why are those particular cultures being represented? *How does it make you feel about your own culture/other cultures? These strategies will help children to become more aware of how some texts can disadvantage certain groups and lead to discrimination. For more strategies on how to develop children's critical abilities, check out Strategies for Parents At our centre... These strategies are what our centre will do to ensure that children are culturally aware and feel secure and supported through: *Displaying each child’s cultural flag *Each child is encouraged on a weekly basis to bring something in that relates to their culture *Once a week, conversations are held with children about cultures that are/are not presented in literacy texts *Once a month, elders from the Aboriginal community come into the centre and speak with the children *Families are encouraged to come in and talk and share cultural events with children *Once a week, our class meets to discuss any issues they may have regarding gender, culture and popular culture ideals they have seen over the week For information on how to help our centre incorporate critical literacy, check out How to help Some interesting resources These resources can provide some more information regarding critical literacy: How to promote cultural diversity 'The Ant Bully' by John Davis - this book promotes teamwork, courage and empathy with children, and can be used in regards to culture The Humane Education's Top List of Books that Explore Race and Culture For more resources on critical literacy, check out Additional Resources Category:Race Category:Culture Category:Education Category:Early childhood Category:Primary education Category:Literacy Category:Critical Category:Critical literacy Category:Belonging Category:Identity Category:Family Category:Community